He soars over snarling cougars and crates of poisonous snakes. Hurtles rows of buses, slams through walls of flame. Defies precipitous canyons and ornate hotel fountains. Garners wealth, fame and a Guinness Book of Records... more &raquo-setting 35 broken bones. "It's going to be anything but dull," Evel Knievel says about his life. Decked out in red, white and blue and exuding bravado, George Eads (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) plays the title role and John Badham (Saturday Night Fever) directs this decades-spanning story of the hard-living, steel-straddling man who went to daredevil extremes long before there was anything called Extreme Sports. Hop on and hang on. It's time to fly with Evel Knievel. DVD Features:

Audio Commentary:Audio commentary by star George Eads and director John Badham

Movie Reviews

George Hamilton's was better...

Kasper Von Deutschland | Lawrenceville, GA USA | 06/07/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I thought the George Hamilton (1971) biopic of Evel was hokey but Eads' version is simply terrible. This movie is flawed and very poorly thought out. Eads is a good actor on CSI and Jaime Pressly is OK on the TV show "My name is Earl", but they were both miscast in this film. To top it off, the movie opens in 1950 and features a Jerry Lee Lewis song that wasn't even recorded until the LATE 50's! They should have put a song in that was relevant to the times Evel grew up in. To make matters worse, Evel looks 7 in the scene, but he would have been 12 by 1950.

Jamie Pressly plays Linda Bork as a gum-smacking redneck glamor girl with a nasty "southern" accent---in Butte Montana! Linda Bork, by most accounts, was a nice girl who eventually fell in love with Evel, despite his hard ways. In this film, Pressly portrays her as an aggressive, dolled-up hooker-type. To nitpick even more, Knievel had a clean-cut look in the sixties but Eads has a bushy mullet-wig throughout.

Q: Why was Lance Henriksen in this film?A: To show young Bobby Knievel how to cleanse his bowels by eating the shells of roasted peanuts while incarcerated. What.......? Great actor. Must've needed the money.

One thing the film includes is the death of Evel's father-in-law, played by Beau Bridges. It's a topic that few documentaries or films cover. But when father-Bork dies, the audience has little sympathy due to the poor character development.

If you want to know about Evel, avoid this film (I love Knievel and bought the DVD for a few bucks just to have it in my collection). Get "Spectacular Jumps", "Gladiators" (the longer version of "Spectacular jumps" and watch "Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel story" with Matthew McConaughey. Also, "Viva Knievel" is a fun 70's film featuring Evel, himself. All of them are fun and informative.

I wish someone would make a film worthy of Evel's contribution to sports, entertainment and pop culture. When Evel Knievel is gone, the "Last of the gladiators" will certainly be missed as a true icon. This movie is a total waste and I can't believe someone would try to pass this movie off as anything other than an overblown Hollywood fantasy. Compared to this film, George Hamilton should have been given an Oscar. Terrible..."